H.B.'s Bubba Sweets wins 'Cupcake Wars'

March 28, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Ever since Bubba Sweets' owners, Erieka "Bubba" McGee, 35 and James Pimentel, 36, won 'Cupcake Wars,' their business has more than doubled. Bubba Sweets has over 60 different flavors of cupcakes, 18 of which are available daily. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Erieka "Bubba" McGee, 35, displays a tray of Lava Pig cupcakes which are made with a caramel cake base, pineapple filling, and topped with a teriyaki buttercream frosting. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bubba Sweets co-owner, James Pimentel, 36, pats down a tray of cupcakes to make sure that the batter cooks evenly. Pimentel and his wife, Erieka "Bubba" McGee, 35, have been in the cupcake business together for nearly three years. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bubba Sweets co-owner, James Pimentel, 36, pats down a tray of cupcakes to make sure that the batter cooks evenly. Pimentel and his wife, Erieka "Bubba" McGee, 35, have been in the cupcake business together for nearly three years. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bubba Sweets cupcakes vary from traditional flavors to the highly unique, such as the chocolate strawberry "Katy Perry" cupcake or the chocolate and salted caramel "PMS Cure" cupcake. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Savannah Bush, 4, of Huntington Beach, enjoys a scoop of cotton candy ice cream outside of Bubba Sweets. Every Wednesday and Friday, she and her mother stop by Bubba Sweets for an afternoon treat. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Ever since Bubba Sweets' owners, Erieka "Bubba" McGee, 35 and James Pimentel, 36, won 'Cupcake Wars,' their business has more than doubled. Bubba Sweets has over 60 different flavors of cupcakes, 18 of which are available daily.MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Bubba Sweets

Cupcakes featured on 'Cupcake Wars'

1. Lava Pig

2. Mango Cheesecake

3. Pineapple Express

4. Hawaiian PMS Cure

The atmosphere at Bubba Sweets was festive and busy on March 18, the day after "Cupcake Wars" aired on the Food Network.

Owners Erieka Pimentel and her husband, James, competed on the show and survived three rounds of judging to win. The grand prize was $10,000, plus a trip to Hawaii to see their cupcakes displayed at the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival on Oahu.

"Cupcake Wars" was filmed last summer, and the couple had to keep their win a secret until the show aired.

"We were so excited for everyone to watch," Erieka Pimentel said. "It was a dream come true."

So, what happens during filming? Pimentel was finally able to share.

"We couldn't sleep the night before," said the 35-year-old, nicknamed Bubba as a child. "There were so many ideas going through our heads."

She said her nerves didn't get too far out of control because her husband was beside her, helping.

The couple were also excited about meeting the judges.

"It was an honor to meet judge Candace Nelson, the founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, and there was Florian Bellanger, the famous pastry chef," she said. "Our third judge was chef Roy Yamaguchi, co-founder of the festival."

Four teams competed in the first round, which lasted 45 minutes.

Bakers mixed, baked and frosted one special cupcake for the judges to evaluate.

"We made the Lava Pig, a brown sugar cake, pineapple cream filling, teriyaki brown sugar buttercream, with pineapple filling, topped with caramelized roasted pig and a pineapple-cherry kabob. It was all about the flavors of Hawaii," Pimentel said.

The judges then evaluated the cupcakes, while teams waited in an adjacent room.

"We held our breath," Pimentel said.

One couple was eliminated. Pimentel and her husband moved on to the next round.

"There were 175 minutes this round. The clock is in real time and goes by quickly," she said.

Now, judges wanted to see the rugged beauty of Hawaii represented. Bubba Sweets baked three cupcakes. The first was mango, with mango Swiss buttercream, graham cracker crust, mango cheesecake filling, topped with a chocolate oyster shell.

They also made a chocolate cupcake with caramel buttercream, caramel, macadamias, coconut and a caramel flower.

"The third cupcake was a pineapple with lemon coconut cream cheese frosting and a fondant pineapple," Pimentel said.

The cupcakes were judged 50 percent on taste and 50 percent on presentation.

There were a few mishaps along the way in round two.

"The caramel was too hard at one point," Pimentel recalled. "I took the cap off a bottle of teriyaki sauce and most of the bottle spilled into the batter."

A new batch of batter was quickly made, and soon cupcakes were in the oven.

"We survived both rounds, and then there was just us and another team in the competition," Pimentel said.

For the last round, the Pimentels were given two hours to make and decorate 1,000 cupcakes.

"It was a lot of work," Pimentel said. "We did get the help of four assistants in the kitchen and a carpenter to create a display."

She sketched a design for a volcano, with places for all the cupcakes, an ocean floor and tropical plants.

"I wanted the cupcakes to look like they were literally coming out of the volcano," she said. "When I saw the display, I was blown away because we wanted to think outside the box, and it turned out perfectly."

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